Cho'Gath Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

Hey everyone fist of all id like to say thanks for reading my guide. I have designed this to be a short and comprehensive guide to TANK Cho'Gath, giving you all the basics any beginner needs to start playing Cho'Gath but also with a lot of tricky tips to help you master the terror of the void.

Basic Guide Summary

Abilities

This is a really great passive. It is the reason Cho is such an amazing solo mid and solo v 2 champ. This can keep you in your lane for a very long time once you get good at last hitting, you can even stand still last hitting minions while being harassed by another champ and not loose hp because the health regen is so huge :D

One of the most annoying and frustrating skill-shots to be up against this is your main source of damage for a lot of the match.

Farming: You can use this in combination with Feral Scream to take out caster minions or once rupture is on level 4 or 5 caster minions will only need one auto attack each to die. Make sure to get as many minions as you can with each Rupture as it costs a lot to use repeatedly.

Harassing: Place slightly behind your enemy to make it harder to dodge. Use this repeatedly to wear your enemy down to about 400 hp once you are at level 5, when you are at level 6 one more rupture and a feast will secure you an easy kill.

Chasing: Place Rupture well in front of a fleeing enemy to kite them over it, it's range with the knock-up and huge slow make it an amazing chasing tool.

Escaping: Whenever you are being chased place a rupture basically right beneath you if the enemies are close behind they will walk over it almost every time and the knock up plus huge slow will give you a big lead on them.

Remember to plant Ruptures in all fights, 1 v 1 skirmishes at your feet will do a great deal of damage and stop your enemy attacking for a short while, placing it in team fights will disrupt your enemies and can even be used, if timed well, to cancel channeling spells.

Nice Farming tool early - mid game but this ability really excels mid - late game when used well in team fights and small skirmishes.
The key to using this is fairly obvious: make sure you get as many enemy champs as you can but primarily target caster carries. This spell has the potential to silence 5 champs for 3 seconds in a team fight which is a ridiculous advantage for your team.
If the enemy team has carries that rely on big channeling ults such as Death Lotus or Bullet Time you should save this spell and use it as a disable as soon as they begin to channel.

Great pushing and farming tool getting a couple of points in this early will mean you have no trouble last hitting, this ability makes the most of your passive. Also makes you hurt a little bit more in early game 1 v 1 s or 2 v 2 s.

An important note is that if you attack a turret while there is an enemy champ there vorpal spikes will draw turret agro so make sure to turn them off if there is an enemy champ nearby.

This is it, this is what makes you Cho'Gath. One of my favorite ultimates in the game this is a guaranteed kill in almost every team fight with its crazy TRUE nuke damage and is the reason Cho is one of the most beastly tanks in the game giving you a bonus 900 hp with 6 stacks at level 3.

Using feast in a side lane with an ally: This spell has a reasonably short cooldown so you can use it on minions occasionally if you want, but if skirmishes are fairly common in your lane then you should save feast because it does a huge amount damage and will be the difference between you winning or loosing a 2 v 2 so be careful.Using feast 2 v 1: If you are soloing against two people then getting into fights is the last thing you want to be doing so sit back close to your tower and whenever feast is off cooldown nom a minion unless you are expecting a gank from your jungler within the next 60 seconds. Getting up as many feast stacks as you can will make you extremely difficult to kill early on.Using feast in mid: Cho is a great solo mid champ but knowing how to use feast can be tricky. Usually if your enemy is not very aggressive and focusing on last hitting then you can feast minions to get some bonus hp early but if you are versing a very aggressive mid then always save feast because it will be the difference between a kill or a death.

When you use feast on a minion you should use it on a siege minion to slow the enemy pushing in a 2 v 1 lane or help you push mid or a 2 v 2 lane.
Also if you need to recall for whatever reason wait until you can use feast, eat a minion then recall, by the time your back in your lane it will just about be off cooldown and feasting their siege minion before you leave will hinder their ability to push your tower while you are gone.

One of the best parts about feast is how huge you get, funnily enough this actually helps in team fights as your enemy may have difficulty selecting your carries because you're so huge. It also plays with the enemies mind when they see how big you are and how many hp bars you have it makes you seem impossible to bring down.

An important note : Eat their carries every chance you get !!

Summoner Abilities

Cho could make use of many summoner spells but I always take:

Ghost - I love ghost, amazing escape spell makes you even more of a bitch to catch and kill. Also very useful for chasing, so you can get close enough to get another rupture on them or simply catch up for the feast kill. A must have every game! Flash - Flash is a personal choice for me and I rarely see any other Cho's use it, but I think it's a great choice for various reasons. Firstly Cho has no kind of blink and his escape abilities are fairly limited so flash helps a lot. Secondly I love using the flash-feast combination (Especially if there is a carry), there's an enemy sitting close to their turret on under 300 hp ? , They never expect the Flash in, then Feast before they have time to react and walk away, this works incredibly well and I highly recommend trying Flash.

Other Recommended Cleanse - another great escape spell, if you take cleanse and ghost you're stupidly hard to catch. It can be almost amusing watching enemies try and catch you. Ignite - Ignite is a great damage dealer early and late game this is always a useful spell to have to help do that little bit extra damage so your enemy is low enough for a feast kill. Exhaust - Now reduces attack damage and ap so great for cutting down effectiveness of carries in team fights and great for chasing to catch up for the feast. Teleport - Can be useful on Cho especially if you are soloing v 2 so you can get back to your lane asap but you shouldn't need to recall often enough because of your passive. I think another spell would be more useful. Clairvoyance - This can be a very useful spell if no one else on your team has it, it has a very low cooldown and amazing for checking for ganks, dragon, baron, etc. I never take this spell but if your team wants it ghost and Clairvoyance would a fine combination although when someone on the other team uses it i do enjoy standing under it and dancing for shits and giggles.

Not Recommended

Smite - Cho could be a good jungler but i wouldn't recommend it, he isn't a very good ganker and would be better used in a 2 v 1 or 1 v 1 lane. Revive - Under no circumstances should you be dying enough to make this useful in a game. Easily the worst summoner spell in the game.
[spell=Fortify] - This spell tends to be useless often only stopping a push for 6 seconds only to have your tower fall shortly afterward but if your team wants someone with fortify then you could take it. Clarity - Your passive should take care of your mana issues but If you have some difficulties take mana regen Glyphs, Clarity should never be necessary.
[spell=Rally] - Can be ok in team fights but since the health regen has been removed its nowhere near as effective, another spell would be much more effective in my opinion. Heal - I'm not a fan of this spell at all, may save your life like once but you shouldn't need to use it as you will be healing off minions and should rarely get low, ghost or flash would be much more effective if you were ganked.

Cho'Gath's main damage output for most of the game is rupture which is why i take magic pen marks.
Dodge seals have been proved to be the best defensive rune in the game and since you are a tank these are great for Cho.
Cooldown reduction is a great stat for most of your spells but if you find you keep running out of mana then you can go for the mana regen Glyphs.
Obviously the best choice for Cho the bonus 100 hp at the start of the game makes a great difference and makes you stupidly hard to kill.

Masteries

For Masteries I take 0/9/21 taking the dodge speed boost in defense which goes nicely with my runes. I take 21 points in utility because I use flash and ghost, flash has an incredibly long cooldown but taking 21 points in utility lowers it considerably. Utility is also good to improve your mana regen which can be problematic at times. Also the speed boost is good for Cho as you need to be a little fast to catch your enemies for the feast. Here's the link :

If you really hate the utility tree then you could take 8/21/1 taking the ghost mastery in utility, or 0/21/9.

Skilling Order

This is my normal skilling order for Cho

I max out Rupture because it is your main source of damage great for harassing, farming and securing feast kills (on carries!). A few points in Vorpal Spikes to make last hitting a breeze. Taking Feral Scream later as I think it's much better to get 3 or 4 points in Rupture asap, if you are versing a heavy caster or two in your lane then you could consider taking one point at level 4. And Obviously Feast whenever because Cho gets grumpy if you don't feed him fresh meat regularly.

Items

With Cho you should begin with a Ruby Crystal if you are in a 2 v 2 this will make you incredibly hard to kill at the start and your passive gives you enough health and mana regen. If you are going to 1 v 2 or solo mid then you might want to consider starting with a Regrowth Pendant and a Mana Potion so you have ridiculous regen.
Try to stay in your lane for as long as you can then when you go back immediately buy Mercury's Treads and as many ingredients as you can for a Guardian Angel. The reason I get a Guardian Angel first is because it gives you heaps of armor and along with Mercury's Treads a lot of magic resist which makes the most of the health you gain from Feast stacks. If you rush a Warmog's Armor first then you will have heaps of health but this will not be as effective as you have very little armor and mr.
If you are repeatedly having mana regen issues then you could get a Philosopher's Stone first which is very cheap and effective, if you start with a Regrowth Pendant then this will only cost an extra 350 or so gold.
After you have finished your Guardian Angel you can finish off your Ruby Crystal (if you bought one) into a Warmog's Armor because you have plenty of armor and mr now, the extra health will be very effective and it is important to get Warmog's Armor fairly early in the game so you can fully stack it by late game.
After this you need to take a look at the enemy and decide whether you need more armor (more physical dps carries) or more magic resist (more casters). If the enemy has more physical damage then you could start to build a Randuin's Omen or a Thornmail. If the enemy has more casters then immediately build a [item=Force of Nature]. If the team is evenly balanced then I recommend building a [item=Force of Nature] as you will have more armor than mr at this point, the speed increase is great for catching and escaping and the regen synchronizes nicely with your health from Feast and Warmog's Armor.
These 4 items give you plenty of health armor and magic resist so now you just assess the other team again and build accordingly. Some other good items to finish off with would be : Randuin's Omen or Thornmail(if you didn't get either of them), Banshee's Veil, Abyssal Scepter or Frozen Mallet

Recommended Items and Reasoning Guardian Angel - Gives you heaps of armor and magic resist great item for early and late game, revive is handy too. Philosopher's Stone - Amazing item to give you huge lane staying abaility this combined with your passive means you should almost never have any health or mana regen problem. Mercury's Treads - The reason I get these is because alone with Guardian Angel you get a great amount of armor and magic resist early game but mostly because of the amazing crowd control reduction which is amazing for escaping and even chasing. Warmog's Armor - Great tank item gives you a ridiculous amount of health so you are even more tanky, this fully stacked along with feast at will give you close to 5000 hp at level 18.
[item=Force of Nature] - One of my favorite items for Cho, goes great with Warmog's giving you incredible health regen late game, the biggest magic resist item in the game and a nice movement speed boost to help catch those tricky carries. Randuin's Omen - Another amazing tank item if there are a few physical damage carries then this will drastically cut there effectiveness, you can always use a little more health regen :) and the cooldown reduction are really great for Rupture, Scream and Feast. The active is great in team fights, or for escaping and chasing. Thornmail - Very cheap and biggest armor item in the game. With this physical damage carries cannot attack you as the 30% reflections will kill them before you die because of your massive health and regen. Always amusing to see players kill themselves while you are fleeing. (Note: make a decision between this and Randuin's Omen as they tend to work against each other. Banshee's Veil - Great tank item gives you even more health and magic resist and the spell sheild can be very handy at times. Abyssal Scepter - Although I hate it when i see Cho's go ap that doesn't mean you can't get a little bit in your build :), this gives you heaps of magic resist if you need it and the ap makes your abilities sting a bit more. The aura is the best thing about this item late game, really helps you and your whole team out in team fights. - If you have enough armor and magic resist then you could consider getting this as one of your final items to give you a stupid amount of health and to stop carries escaping you... ever. Aegis of the Legion - Although I don't use this item it would work very well early game similar to a Guardian Angel. Gives you a nice amount of hp, armor and mr. Also helps out your lane partner and later your team in fights. Shurelya's Reverie - If you take a Philosopher's Stone at the start of the game then later on this item could be useful. The health, cooldowns, hp regen and mana regen are all great but the speed boost can be amazing for diving on unsuspecting enemies (especially carries) for the feast kill, used similar to flash. Also great escape ability for you and team mates as the speed boost is an aura. Frozen Heart - This could be a very effective item, mana is good for Cho, the 99 armor is great and the cooldown reduction is handy too. The aura would be great for team fights against dps carries but i still prefer Randuin's Omen, just personal preference. Atma's Impaler - If you want to do some heavy damage then this would give you 100 attack damage with 5000 hp at the end of the game, the armor is good too and the extra damage makes you a turret eating machine. Sunfire Cape - This would be another good early game item I don't use it myself but I don't see anything wrong with it you felt you needed one, good all round tank item.

Build Examples

Verses team with more Physical Damage[item_icon=Force of Nature]
or[item_icon=Force of Nature]

Game Play

Laning Phase
Laning with Cho is simple enough, use Rupture and later on Feral Scream on caster minions to push and last hit making sure you don't spam yourself out of mana. Last hit as many minions as possible with your auto attack and vorpal spikes to get 'fed' and keep regenerating your health and mana. Cho is a crazy farmer and you should get as many minion kills as possible so the enemy carries can't scratch you and flee in fear late game.
Also if you have lane control use Rupture to harass your enemy over and over until they are on about 400 health, as soon as you are level 6 one more Rupture and a Feast will secure you a kill on one of their carries. For more detailed instructions on using Feast in your laning phase refer to Feast in the champ abilities section.

Ganking
Cho'Gath is not what I would call a ganking machine but if you want to gank an enemy carry then use Feral Scream to disable any escaping abilities for a short time, predict where they will be once they start to flee and plant a Rupture to knock up and slow them then seal the kill with Feast if possible, auto attacking the whole way of course.

Team Fights
As the uber tank your goal in team fights is fairly straight forward - absorb as much damage for your team as possible. Rupture can be a good initiating spell if you knock up one of their carries then simply walk in to the enemy team, chances are many players won't be able to hellp themselves and will unload a bunch of spells on you which shouldn't do too much then your team can just in and mop up the spell exhausted enemies. Throughout the team fight plan as many Rupture's as you can in the thick of the fight to disrupt as many enemies as you can. You should save Feral Scream to disable channeling spells like Bullet Time, and when you do use it try to get as many enemies as possible. Using Feast is a bit of a no-brainer, watch the enemies health closely and as soon as you can eat someone do so to guarantee yourself a kill.
Throughout the team fight you need to protect your carries by immediately targeting anyone who dares target them. If your carries are fairly safe then you must eat all of the enemies carries!

A Cho'Gath Checklist

Use this checklist to evaluate your effectiveness as a Cho'Gath player

1. Have you got so much hp armor and magic resist that when you run at 4 of your enemies they all turn and flee?2. Do you have over 500 minion kills in a 30 minute game ?3. Do you provide an impenetrable barrier between the enemy and your carries and eat anyone how dares to break through ? 4. Have you eaten their main carries so many times that they burst into tears every time they see you and their flavor is actually beginning to bore you ?5. Are you bigger than your nexus ?

Summary

Well that should be about all you need to play the Terror of the Void effectively and scare the living hell out of your enemies. Cho'Gath is an amazing tank and remember that your primary job is to defend your carries with your life and make life horrible for the enemy carries.

Thanks heaps for reading my guide and I would love for you to rate my guide and leave any comments.

I have heaps of fun plying Cho and I hope you do too, and as riot would say, see you on the fields of justice =D